direction: ccPierrot plays one last pathet- ic appeal on his violin. He sinks on the steps-and dies-while in the garden the gaiety swells to a high pitch." Har- bach meant every word of that. He is a very romantic man. H ARBACH's kindliness and a sort of elocutionary courtliness that clings to him from his Knox College days have made him a favorite with performers. He is sympathetic to juveniles who think that a few meaty lines should be added to their rôles, and he helps out chorus .; ; ta :Y m a :;.in\:; :m; ! , . conspicuous trait is his absent-minded- ness during periods of creative effort. A producer once met him walking up Broadway, coatless, during a heavy snowstorm. Harbach explained that he had left his overcoat in the restaurant where he had just dined. When the producer asked him why he did not go back to the restaurant to get it, Har- bach said that unfortunately he had forgotten the restaurant. A number of times, commuting to his home in Ma- maroneck, instead of getting off the train at New Rochelle, the nearest sta- tion to his house, he has got off at Mount Vernon, because the two sta- tions look, in a rough way, alike. Fre- quently, too, he has arrived at his home still wearing, in place of a hat, the green eyeshade he wears at rehearsals. When the Harbachs acquired their present dwelling, about 1925, it was a large country house, with fifteen rooms. That proved to be merely a nucleus. Since they bought it, they have been consistently adding wings. The wings are an expression of indolence. Har- bach, under no necessity to turn out material quickly nowadays, puts off working on a new show until he has built an entire new study in which to write it. Usually he tacks the study onto the ground floor. Then Mrs. Harbach begins using the roof of the new addi- tion for a sun porch. The next step is to put up an awning, and then decide that the awning might as well be re- placed by a roof. The following fall they glass the porch in, install heating, and there you are. At the moment, the house has twenty-two rooms, seven of them studies. When Harbach at last gets down to work, he never uses the studies he has built. He puts on his pajamas and goes to hed, where he writes with pencil and pad. The house at Mamaroneck is cov- ered with stucco and timber. Most of the rooms are as big as music-show sets, ,f: ,:,:1i i::;.: ....',:;.::;;.:...:: :.:. _.' ,;:.:;:::0;';,:::, ..: : ".. 11 : :::::':: . .:..J ..' i .. ,H;:l...' .: " t" ( . @:'.<f .'oj- ... ...' ':. ;""::":"\:/ ,. ,.,':..,...":'>. JJf=!). , .::::.';t ' . ." ,,,,:t;: it .,/ :' .' , - , t;: :, f' j ":::':b':";:;:'; . .. " :' '}){ :" J!':iY ./... #" ">:i , '",ß <<:l-:' :; ":::,>:: . .;....: :\ .... : , ;:;:::; :::. :" \:' ..i 1t ,j, #:;1 . i . . .. . '/ :\g{: :.:?fj$ . '. ':!'::::: ; ::::::"::::;' :;i;::;i i'9\, ..' .",., ' .. t' :,:.:: ' ." ,....\, i.: ',(, ':< : '.. '. "''1- : 'rfJY:, ,y/::::':i';'" -t" , . :::, :{w ' ' :).'U . \;,:::;1:"':;,,;:..:.:, . '# ,:<, ,,:;--:f"'"'' &à i;;:;::::=",.>:,'::: "M7 ell, well! ':':': : j1t: , ' ,l '",: ^'tf" p: ::: 1, =-":-. "'- 'j .:'::: :::::::. ::::, .' ..:v :: 1 ' " ,;-,:::::,:,;",: >;,..%$ i . : ,: îf. ' If4' I ^4 t {; . i í tJt {7Y . ,':r :\ : ". '" 1ß :>, . .. \' Jl N l.. ,. i '<- < '::,:- ; ið.,: ' '; :t:: '.t '. .'.:0. ::=,rr.:. >:: ..::,,: ::.:-:%:" :...:", '''':':':':' -: ' .:::'::-:':f.'.:: .... ,:-. . ." :...,ÿ..:.: ...:.' :: -t >:. ' ::: :;-:::::: ti . ::--:- << ,:.. - ,. : . 9.: " ..-:: , ':: :":uu':":'0: ;;.. 4> _oX:::::' ,,,, ættl!f' .:",:<.,. Fhe Mayor's Reception Comn1ittee!" and full of Chinese carvings and Ori- en tal rugs. \\Then Harbach moved to Westchester, he indulged a Danish pas- sion for animal husbandry by stock- ing his place with sheep, horses, chick- ens, and milch cows. They became, temporarily, his chief interest in life, and he once dragged his wife from her bed to assist at the accouchement of a ewe. Since that time, most of the beasts have died of old age. Mrs. Harbach has dis- s aded him from buying new ones. He contents himself with feeding dozens of pheasants and quail, which report on his lawn for breakfast every morning. The Harbachs have two sons-Robert, a student at Lawrenceville, and Wil- liam, who goes to Choate. The play- wright has presented each with a com- plete, tidily bound set of his works. Mrs. Harbach feels a good deal worse than her husband about the critics. A handsome, pink-and-blonde lady who sails imperturbably through life away from the theatre, she is pallid with apprehension at a Harbach first night. The waves of friendly applause com- mon to first nights cheer her briefly, . . hut when she sees the invariably sour notices the next day, she feels sad. The Owen Davises, the Jerome Kerns, and the Frank Mandels are the most fre- quent visitors at the Harbach home. They are all solid, intelligent people- a kind of haute bourgeoisie of the the- atre. Harbach does not play cards and has never seen a horse race. His most dangerous foihle happens to be the de- lusion that dogs do not know how to swim. A horrified friend once saw him jump out of a rowboat to rescue a gigantic police dog that could swim bet- ter than he could. Others have seen him wade far out into the Sound on a cold winter day to haul in a content- ed water spaniel. Harbach's views on most subjects are conventional, but he makes an exception in favor of chorus girls. "I think chorus girls have just as much virtue as women on Park Ave- nue," he says with a defiant air when anyone brings up the subject. At such moments, it is apparent that he feels he has come a long way from Whit- man College at WalIa \ValIa, Wash- ington. -A. J. 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